Assistance to Serbs in the Federation of BiH is coming from Serbia. The Director of the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region, Arnaud Gouillon, signed agreements with representatives of three Serb organizations from the Federation of BiH, on co-financing agricultural and livestock projects. The value of the signed agreements exceeds EUR 75,000.

The idea to support agricultural and livestock projects originated after the Director of the Directorate, Arnaud Gouillon, visited Serb returnees to FBiH, after he was informed about the economic and other problems they had been facing.

– This includes purchase of 35 pregnant heifers worth 6 million dinars for Bosanski Petrovac, purchase of machinery worth 2 million dinars for farmers, for people engaged in agriculture in Posavina, and purchase of equipment worth one million dinars for beekeepers in Grahovo – said Arnaud Gouillon, Director of the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region.

Nemanja Davidović, Director of the Returnee Support Center in the Una-Sana Canton, noted that the funds intended for the development of animal husbandry were the second largest investment of Serbia in the Una-Sana Canton and Bosanski Petrovac.

– In the Una-Sana Canton, returnees are mostly engaged in agricultural production, milk production, and this project will help directly the people who are already engaged in it, but we also plan to encourage others who are not in this sector to join and thus provide for their existence – Davidović emphasized.

Funding the purchase of small agricultural machinery will mean incentive for the survival of Serbs in the Posavina Canton.

– Procurement of motor cultivators, cutters, trimmers, chainsaws will ensure survival of the Serb people, as well as return which is already evident from tens of current examples during the recent period – said Damir Ivetić, president of the Serb Civic Association Posavina.

If the implementation is successful, the Directorate for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region intends to support a larger number of such projects next year.

Source and photo: RTRS